(2020·甘肃省天水一中第一学期第一次考试)I start every summer with the best of intentions: to attack one big book from the past, a classic that I was supposed to have read when young and ambitious. Often the pairings of books and settings have been purely accidental: “Moby Dick” on a threeday crosscountry train trip: “The Magic Mountain” in a New England beachside cottage with no locks on the doors, no telephones or televisions in the rooms, and little to do beyond row on the salt pond. Attempting “The Man Without Qualities” on a return to Hawaii, my native state, however, was less fruitful: I made it through one and a quarter volumes (册), then decided that I'd got the point and went swimming instead.
But this summer I find myself at a loss. I'm not quite interested in Balzac, say, or “Tristram Shandy”. There's always War and Peace, which I've covered some distance several times, only to get bogged down in the “War” part, set it aside for a while, and realize that I have to start over from the beginning again, having forgotten everyone's name and social rank. How appealing to simply fall back on a favorite—once more into “The Waves” or “Justine”， which feels almost like cheating, too exciting and too much fun to properly belong in serious literature.
And then there's Stendhal's “The Red and the Black”， which happens to be the name of my favorite cocktail (鸡尾酒) of the summer, created by Michael Cecconi at Savoy and BackForty. It is easy to drink, and knocking back three or four seems like such a delightful idea. Cecconi's theory: “I take whatever's fresh at the green market and turn it into liquid.” The result is a pure shot of afternoon in the park, making one feel cheerful and peaceful all at once, lying on uncut grass with eyes shut, sun beating through the lids ...
篇章导读：本文是一篇记叙文。作者喜欢暑期旅游读书，并和我们分享了自己读书的体会。
1．What can we infer about the author from the first paragraph?
A．He has a cottage in New England.
B．He shows talents for literature.
C．He enjoys reading when traveling.
D．He admires a lot of great writers.
答案：C 推理判断题。根据第一段中“‘Moby Dick’ on a threeday crosscountry train trip: ‘The Magic Mountain’ in a New England beachside cottage ... ‘The Man Without Qualities’ on a return to Hawaii”等内容可知，作者在旅行中喜欢读名著，故选C。
2．What do the underlined words “get bogged down” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A．Get confused. B．Be carried away.
C．Be interrupted. D．Make no progress.
答案：D 词义猜测题。根据句中“covered some distance several times”和“set it aside for a while”及读后的结果“having forgotten everyone's name and social rank.”可知，作者在读“战争”部分时几次合上书，把书放一边。句中画线的“get bogged down”指的是陷入困境，停滞不前，没有进展，与Make no progress同义，故选D。
3．Why does the author say reading his favorite books feels like cheating?
A．He finishes them quickly.
B．He should read something serious.
C．He barely understands them.
D．He has read them many times before.
答案：B 推理判断题。根据第二段中的“How appealing to simply fall back on a favoriteonce more into ‘The Waves’ or ‘Justine’， which feels almost like cheating, too exciting and too much fun to properly belong in serious literature.”可知，作者再次读到自己最喜欢的书时，感到非常刺激和兴奋。同时感觉自己兴奋的心情与严肃的作品不适合，所以这时候会有cheating的感觉，认为自己应该读一些严肃的东西。故选B。
4．What can be a suitable title for the text?
A．The Books of Summer
B．My Summer Holidays
C．To Read or Not to Read
D．It's Never Too Late to Read
答案：A 标题判断题。文章第一段开头作者就点明every summer，谈到了每年暑假旅行时喜欢读名著。第二段中的“But this summer I find myself at a loss.”谈到今年夏天读书的困惑，第三段中的“my favorite cocktail (鸡尾酒) of the summer”再次把读书和夏日鸡尾酒联系，谈自己读书的感受。所以全文都和夏天读书有关，The Books of Summer适合作为标题，故选A。
【词汇积累】 ①fruitful adj. 富有成效的；多产的 ②cheat v. 欺骗；蒙骗 ③liquid n. 液体 ④shut v. 关闭；关上；合上
【难句分析】 原文：I start every summer with the best of intentions: to attack on big book from the past, a classic that I was supposed to have read when young and ambitious. 每年夏天，我都会抱着最好的愿望开始：攻读一本过去的大部头著作，这是我在年轻时雄心勃勃的时候应该读的经典著作。(第一段第一句)
分析：本句为主从复合句。that引导定语从句修饰classic，其中when引导时间状语从句，使用了状语从句的省略，补充完整为when (I was) young and ambitious。
